Gnocchi pesto with chocolate chip cookie dessert

Here’s a quick and easy dinner that you can make in fifteen minutes and can easily scale to more people if necessary!  It can also be made a vegan meal by making your own pesto without the cheese.  Gnocchi is a very fast cooking Italian food that paired with some sautéed vegetables makes for a very filling and flavorful meal.  Thrown in some fresh baked garlic bread and welcome to heaven!

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And if you want a dessert with this dish and have some time in advance, buy a bag of Ghirardelli chocolate chips and use the recipe on the back of bag.  These amazing chocolate chip cookies will come out!  Are you hungry yet?

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Recipe – Makes 3 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb (450 g) package of gnocchi
  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 zucchini, diced
  • ½ cup (75 g) of red cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) of pesto
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup (22 g) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tbsp (30 g) fresh basil, roughly chopped

Directions:

  1. Set a pot of hot, salted water to boil, cover with a lid to help boil faster! Meanwhile prep the “Italian Vegetables” vegetables.
  2. Sautée in batches starting with the pepper first for 2 mins, then the zucchini for 2 mins and then the tomatoes.
  3. Once vegetables soften, add the garlic cook for 1 min, then add the pesto, combine with the veggies and season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm over low flame.
  4. At this point if sauce appears too thick, go ahead and add some pasta from the boiling gnocchi to thin it out.
  5. Then drain the gnocchi, add it to the veggies stirring to coat. Portion out into bowls, top with the Parmesan cheese, and freshly chopped basil.

Source: Entertaining With Beth